Board game indicator



March 14, 1950 w. WALKER BOARD GAME INDICATOR Filed Sept. '7, 1948Erna/vs: (H487- LI 5L TaL FIELD 1a- Wmorrnml z 3 4 5 6 7 6 Snus RUNSliklikik Patented Mar. 14, 1950 UNITED v STATES PM Em or F ICE BOARDINDICATQR William 'Walker, Toronto, 1 Ontario, Canada Appneanonsestember7, 1948; -Seria1 No. 48,139 is Claimst (c1. .4.0'-124.1i)'

My invention relates' to improvements inboard 'gam'es of. the:in'door'variety"whichrare commonly placed; upon a table whiler'inxzuseand arrangedin front of the seated: icontestants sorth'at the game canbeconveniently-played zirom its play- :ing end- Parlor genres of thiskind usually have .a playing surface :upon=Whl'0'h'igfil'llfifDiBCBSfiXfi 'moved'in association with useof:chan'ce' m'eanS, dice, et ecetera, according to specified rules andregulations set out by the manufacturer. 'Itlis and stored within the'gamefiboa-rd when not required. According :to my: invention ithereadingmatter on the refer-encenhart or information sheet is displayed at a:mosticonvenient an fi :readi-ng while'the game-is being played: JAf-teruse :of. the game board the ---referen'ce chart or line formation sheetcan be readily :collapsed and storedwithintheboard,whiohpreservesiitiagainst I damage and 'economizes on storagespace. v it can be easily pulled out ready for use.

distinctive "feature :of'the construction isthat the :so-eallediniormationwsheet "is-:3. plate-Elike %strip-of.-stiii materialbearingireading matter'rattached to aiholding-device:'Theihol-dingidevice is. :made up I of wing plate; :aback plate. and abase plate. The vving platewis-ihinged tothe bot.-

tom of thewinform-ation sheet :and:'slidazbl-y: re.-

tained in :a pocket open [atthe :top -'ed gerlof the game board. Theback plate is hinged tojth itop of the information sheet to inclineoutwardly and downwardly therefrom and is hinged to the base plate. Thebase'plate isslidable in the pocket and has a tab by which itcan-bepulled ,tocollapse the holding device and draw it into .the pocket alongwith the information sheet.

The invention is illustrated in the' accompanying drawing, in which Fig.1 is a plan viewer a game-board showing the invention in position;- foruselinplaying the game. 7

Fig. 2 is asectional elevation on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2 but showin the information sheetwithdrawn into the pocket of the game board.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the game board viewed from its back toshow how the tab is operated to collapse the information sheet and itssupport.

llilor "the: purpose of illustrating the use .o'iathe present invention.1 have chosen-to depict aa-ibase- .ball: game comprising the board 7|having (on .its playing surface-a espresentation of a baseballdiamond-12,, 'Eig. r1, 1011 which game pieces-(not shown?)areomoved-according to-plays indicated by chance .meanssuch as nice(not-shown)... .lAt the playing aend 3-ofothe board there is depicted ascoreboard-4, Fig. 1. .It is considered unnecessary to dwell ,iur-therupon the :baseball game per se ainasmuch asit doeswnot forms partrofithepresent-invention. As a matter Of fact thein- Mention is -susoeptibl'eof use in [association with .a wide. varietyef parlor games of :the kindherein referred to in which rulesfand regulations areyprovided :for themoves or plays tobe made in. the playing of theqgames. 'Hence .it-.-will2138 under- .stooduthat the invention ,is not confined to the specificgame of the illustrative disclosure.

.In carrying out the present invention the :rules and regulations areprinted-.or'otherwise inscribed, ras-atfi; upon a (stiff sheet :01material :6, :suchas .pasteboard or. ,millboardl The rules and.-regulations are captioned Reference chart .aswill-be noted from aninspection of Fig. 1 of thedrawing. The sheet 6 with the readingmatterthereon'tmay ;be conveniently referred to aswan information sheetwhich for-facility of reading is disposed .at-the head end of the boardl opposite the play-- ing end 3. Itis supported by aholding device at abackward inclination -.to upstand from the board .sothatit'can :beviewed by the contestants :while xtheyare playing the game.

The collapsible holding device comprisesa wing plate 1,..a back plate:Sanda base-plate 9 all of which are made of stiff material similar tothe so -called reference chart '6; The wing plate is .hingedlyconnectedat!!! tov the-bottom of the reference chart .andslidably contained in .apocket :IJ formed .in the board I. The back plate 8 upstands at a slightback-ward angle to the rear of said :refzerence chartgand. is-hingedlyconnected thereto vat its top; as .at :12. The bottomlof the back plateis hingedrat 'l3..to said baseplate =9, lwhichbas'e plate projectssrearwardly .of the board l-lv and :is .slidably :contained in thepocket subacent the wing plate 1.

Suitable: means are employed .to limit sliding movement of the wingplate .in a direction outwardly of. the .pocket. Said-means is shown.,by way of example but not of limitation as comprising the. stop.strips .1 land 15, which are arranged transversely. The stop strip i 4is secured to the wing plate to upstand therefrom. The stop strip I5 issecured to the board I within the pocket so as to be engaged by the stopstrip M in the unfolded position of the device, as clearly illustratedin Fig. 2.

A grip piece in the form of a tab I6 is secured to the bottom face ofthe base plate to project through a slot I! provided in the bottom ofthe board. The tab is grasped by hand to slide the base plate as will beseen by reference to Fig. 4. The slot [1 runs parallel to the directionof movement of the base plate 9 and is of a length to accommodate therequired range of travel there of for the collapsing of the informationsheet.

The pocket H extends the full width of the board I and is formed thereinin approved manner as by the upper Wall 18 and the lower wall H! whichare marginally joined at opposite sides and also at the playing end 3,thus leaving the head end 2E9 open in the form of a mouth for inward andoutward sliding movement of the wing plate and the base plate.

While the game is in use the information sheet is retained in theconvenient reading position shown in Fig. 1, 2 and 4. When the game isto be put away after use the information sheet is collapsed within thepocket by pulling on the tab it. The tab when drawn toward the playingend of the board causes the base plate to slide completely into thepocket which, in this movement, first swings the lower end of the backplate toward the information sheet and then pulls it into the pocketalong with the information sheet. The wing plate slides inwardly of thepocket to accommodate this movement. The folding action is entirelyautomatic. The infor-- mation sheet is thus stored in the pocket in' acompact manner, as shown in Fig. 3. The tab is pulled in reversedirection to eject the information sheet I which automatically unfoldsthe holding device to supporting position.

While a selected embodiment of the invention has been disclosed as anexample of one practical form of the invention, it will be understoodthat such changes and variations may be resorted to as come within thescope of the appended claims. I

What I claim is:

1. The combination in a board game, of a board having a shallow pocketprovided with-a mouth at an edge portion of the board, an informationsheet inclined upwardly and outwardly of said edge portion, a wing plateslidable in said pocket and hinged to the bottom of said informationsheet, a subtending base plate also slidable in said pocket, said baseplate projecting from said pocket and being provided with handle means,and a back plate hinged to the projecting portion of said base plate andupstanding therefrom, the top of said back plate being hinged to saidinformation sheet so as to collapse the same and draw it into saidpocket when said baseplate is caused to slide inwardly of said pocket.

2. The combination in a board game, of a board having a shallow pocketprovided with a mouth at an edge portion of the board, an informationsheet inclined upwardly and outwardly of said edge portion, a wing plateslidable in said pocket and hinged to the bottom of said informationsheet, a base plate disposed subiacent said wing plate to slide in saidpocket, said base plate protruding from said pocket to the rear of saidinformation sheet, grip means for sliding said base plate, and a backplate upstanding from said base 4 plate and hinged at the bottom to therear portion thereof, said back plate also being hinged at its top tothe upper portion of the information sheet so as to first collapse theinformation sheet and then draw it into said pocket when said has plateis withdrawn into said pocket.

3. A structure as set forth in claim 2, in which means is provided tolimit outward movement of the wing plate. 1

4. A structure as set forth in claim 2, in which the board includesupper and lower walls which are spaced to form the pocket, and in whichthe grip means comprises a flexible tab attached to the base plate andprojected through a slot provided in said lower wall so that it isaccessible from the bottom of said board. 5. The combination in a boardgame, of a board provided with a slot therethrough, said slot having endportions, an information sheet upstanding from said board, means forminga hinge connection for the lower end of said information sheet so thatthe sheet can swing backwardly, a holding device for supporting sa dinformation sheet at a forward angle, said holding device including anupstanding back plate disposed rearwardly of said information sheet andhinged at its top thereto, a base plate slidably arranged on said boardand hingedly connected to the bottom of said back plate, and ahandle-forming tab attached to said base plate and passed through saidslot in said board to project therefrom so that it can be manuallygrasped and used to collapse said back plate and information sheet, therange of movement of said base plate being limited by engagement of saidtab with an end portion of said slot.

6. The combination in a board game, of a board, an information sheetupstanding therefrom, means forming a hinge connection for the lower endof said information sheet so that the sheet can swing b-ackwardly, and aholding device for supporting said information sheet at a forward angle,said holding device including an upstanding back plate disposedrearwardly of said information sheet and hinged at its top thereto, abase plate slidab y arranged on said board and hingedly connected to thebottom of said back plate, and handle means for sliding said base plateto collapse said back plate and information-sheet, the said structurebeing characterized in that said board is provided with a shallow pockethaving a mouth disposed endwise thereof, and in that said base plate isarranged to slide in said pocket to pull said back plate and saidinformation sheet into said pocket when drawn inwardly of said mouth.

' WILLIAM WALKER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

